building fronts?

Sure can....many of our advertisers have a variety of building fronts...just click on their banners.  Also...we have building fronts and kits that can be used as fronts...just go to the OGR home page and click on our webstore...

Alan

Hobbylinc has a bunch and ORG.com has some. Many as cheap as $12. Hope this helps.

Walthers produced a few a while back.

Here's a few to look for.  Try googling them to find their websites.

1.  Korber

2.  DSLshops

3.  Ameritowne

4.  Pecos River (out of business but still sells on ebay)

5.  B/J Traction (again out of business but one can find them on ebay)

6.  Chooch (no longer producing O scale but they can be found on ebay)

7.  Downtown Deco

8.  Atlas (bought the Walthers line)

9.  Any building kit automatically gives you a "front" and a "back"

That's a fairly complete list.  Perhaps others can added additional names.

Jan

Keep in mind printed building fronts on foamboard.  Cruise the internet and you can find lots of very orthogonally taken/adjusted images of neat buildings.  Print in colr, attach, add a few 3-D details if you will and they look really good.  I've added some excellent buildings/building fronts that way.

First, my Indian Trail model is paper on foamboard and only 3/4 inch deep and looks goo to my eyes.  Everyone who visits likes it - well actualyl they like the hookers working the parking lot most, but . . .

The two buildings below are just fronts, paper/foamboard, too.

Second, I  like to use the OGR/Ameritown - instead of fronts, though, I buy entire kits and use all four sides as fronts.  There is the front, of course, and the back, which I generally use as the "front" of the back of a set of buildings backed up to the tracks: if you think about it, this happens in the real world more than the reverse, I expect. Then, usually, one of the two sides has windows and such and its easy to cut out a first-floor window and insert a door, etc. to create a building front.  The final side is usually solid brick with no windows or doors, which if you think about it, is just a gift for scratch building.  

My detective street, below, is all Ameritown buildings and all fronts, from left to right, Nero Wolfe's townhouse, the Thin Man bar, 221B Baker Street, Calbert Campions townhouse, and the Bottle Street police station.  there is no more than 3/4 inch depth to any of them: my 'Streets country road runs 3/8 inch right behind the whole lot. 

You can make many of the kits into flats.

I took the Korber Flag Company and kitbashed all the walls together and made it a flat about 2" deep.

I built the Korber Grain Silo kit and then cut the whole thing in half on the table saw.

Built a flat from DMP Modular walls..

None of them are finished, but the footprint is there so I know where to place the track and how much space they take up. 

If you have some time and a bunch of broken Plasticville wall sections available (usually under the tables at train shows for little $$) you can cut them up and re-glue them into a myriad of building fronts.

Here's one I made for my S gauge train club's modular layout. It's about 3/4 inch thick,12 inches tall and 36 inches wide. Added window "glass" lighting, people and lots of added "stuff" complete the building.

We call it the "Frankenbuilding" as it's origins come from many parts:

Mark

You can see our Ameri-Towne fronts here. Totally made in the USA!

The injection molder we use is only 2 miles from the OGR World Headquarters and Raw Nerve Center.

These card kits are some of the best deals out.  They look great especially for background scenery and adding depth.  Of course, they even look good up close and are basically pre-weathered.

amcdave has also done quite a few and you can check out some of his posts for them as well.

Some really nice jobs here!  Very inspirational pictures.

Art

Many of the pictures show - and certainly the primary use of building fronts - is against a backdrop, but one should keep in mind how useful they can be elsewhere. I showed my "Detective Street" above - fronts with no depth, positioned so that does not show. The three paper-on-foamboard buildings I showed also are not against a backdrop, but in positions where I have, at most, 1.5 inches of depth.  My point isn't so much about building fronts as about their use however and from whatever they are made.  Using them and a bit of deception to the eye about their depth is a real tool to enhance the look of a layout - and one to keep in mind. 

 RESIN  building flat

here are some FREE downloadable building fronts...that's right...no charge...

http://www.bigindoortrains.com..._building_fronts.htm

http://bigindoortrains.com/ind...gs/irish_facades.htm

howard

I'd like to find some building fronts from NYC to use with my new Grand Central Terminal form Lionel. 

Nice Mark!  -  Frankenbuilding is my new favorite!

Thanks! It was a lot of fun to make and cost very little.

Mark

We are using a mix of DPM sections, Grant Line Storefronts, and AmeriTowne on our Downtown Corry Pa facades......

Thanks to all who responded to my request about a source for building fronts. I have plenty of good insights now...thanks guys. I just finished one download and had a building front mounted on foamboard. Looks neat and certainly cost effective. I plan on acquiring some Ameri-Town buildings and doing some kitbashing.

Lee, TMack & Pennsy thanks for sharing, you've done some very realistic modeling.   Just go to an old downtown or industrial area and look around the tracks (especially the wrong side).  You see a mish mash of old buildings with upper windows boarded, 100 years of abuse, damaged and patched brickwork, etc..  Maybe an old building in the middle was burned/torn down and turned into outdoor fenced storage yard or flat walls built to create a modern stucco or metal warehouse with bay doors.  From any perspective you will see the fronts, backs and sides of old buildings.  Lining up a bunch of perfect four sided buildings on a layout is not very realistic.  I really like the realistic look of partial buildings, terrain and lots of landscaping against walls which block the backdrop scenery at varying levels.

If you are looking for really big and tall buildings check out these links:

http://www.jcstudiosinc.com/OGaugeSkyscrapers

http://www.cmrtrain.com/cmr-train-skyscrapers.html

Mini-Gotham

There was a man at the last York I attended who made skyscrapers out of solid surface countertop material.  Also, there was a bridge and building kit with beams and girders that was marketed about 50 years ago.  You can still find them on eBay.

Enjoy!

Jan